His Wedding Date (The Second Chance Love Series, Book 2) (7 page)

Her breath caught in her throat as the treetops filled her vision. She gasped. His curses drowned out the sound.

The plane bounced a little as it scraped the tips of the trees, then miraculously settled in a straight line over the road, which came rushing up to meet them.

Brian pulled the plane hard to the left to make up for the brush with the treetops on the right. He overcompensated, and the plane hit the road at an angle, up on its left side, then banged again as the right wheels came down.

They bounced down the road, her head knocking against the side window, her vision clouding for a moment. But she didn't care. They were on the ground.

He'd gotten them to the ground.

Shelly was simply glad to be alive and ridiculously happy she hadn't blurted out her feelings for him in a moment of panic.

Then she saw the water rushing toward them.

"Oh, my God," she gasped.

"Just our luck," Brian said, still struggling to control an uncontrollable situation. "We found the road that goes to the river."

It dead-ended in a parking lot and a boat ramp, one with no cars now, no boats, no people, no help.

He hit the brakes hard, but the plane didn't stop. It skidded drunkenly toward the end of the road.

The murky water ahead filled her vision. Surely they'd be much better off in the water than in the trees. She screamed when they plowed into it, hit harder than she expected. She'd thought they'd slowed down a lot more than they actually had.

She must have blacked out then. Either that or everything happened too fast, because the next thing she knew she was in the water. Water was inside the plane, filling it up, and she couldn't get loose.

"Brian!" She hoped she hadn't screamed his name.

"I'm here," he said, and she tried to beat back the panic that threatened to overtake her.

"I can't get out."

She was struggling with the unfamiliar buckle of the seat belt, and for a minute his hands closed over hers, and they struggled together. She didn't understand at first, in her panic, that he was trying to help her.

Of course, he would help her.

She told herself that over and over again as he took over the struggle with the belt. The water rose faster than she would have believed. It was so cold on her legs, then her abdomen.

"Brian," she said, the panic back, stronger than ever.

The belt finally came free, even as the water swirled around her chest. She had to untangle herself from the belt and push up to the ceiling—the only spot the water hadn't reached.

"Shelly?" Brian's face came up out of the water right beside hers. "Listen to me. We've got to get out of here. I have to get the door open, and when I do, water's going to come rushing in, and we have to get out. Understand?"

Shelly whimpered, thinking about how much she hated to be underwater, even if she could surface seconds later. She wouldn't even dive into a pool,

"Wait a minute," she said when he would have disappeared into the murky black of the swirling water.

He did, staying still while the water closed in around them. There was so much she wanted to say, but at the moment, she couldn't get any of the words out of her mouth. So she just held out her arms to him and pulled him to her, holding him desperately for as long as he would allow it.

"It's going to be okay," he said, making her believe him. "We're going to get out of here."

Gently, but determinedly, he pulled free of her hold.

"We have to do this now. When I get the door open, head for the door. You'll have to feel your way because it's going to be dark. You can do it. I know you can."

She barely had a chance to nod.

"Okay, I'm going to count to three. Take a couple more deep breaths, and when I get the door open, follow me. If you get lost, breathe out and follow your bubbles to the surface, all right?"

She would have protested, but he didn't give her time.

"One," he started counting, bobbing in the water as he did. She did the same, watching his eyes and trying to fight back the panic while she waited for the moment.

She truly hated being underwater. The water always seemed so heavy, like it was going to crush her.

"Two," he said, and her lungs already felt as if they were going to burst.

She was going to tell him. She had to.

"Three."

"Ahh," she screamed in protest, instead of breathing as she'd been told.

And then he was gone.

"I love you, Brian," she whispered, too late for him to hear. "And if we get out of this mess alive, I'm going to tell you."

She heard the door give way, saw the water rush in, and then there was no time for anything else. She made a wild grab for air and followed him down into the murky river.

* * *

Shelly woke up in Brian's arms on the bank of the river, unsure how she got there, unsure for a moment what had happened.

And then she saw the plane, just the tail, sticking out of the water.

Her stomach rolled. She shivered in the cool wind coming off the river, then tried to snuggle closer to him. She hadn't been this close to him in years. She couldn't stop shaking, and her head felt as if it had been split in two.

"Ouch," she said when she tried to sit up and everything started spinning in little circles around the center of the pain in her head.

"Relax," Brian said, and his voice helped her to do just that. "You don't need to go anywhere or do anything."

She coughed up a little water, and that hurt even more. Her head was spinning and her lungs burned.

"What happened?"

"You must have banged your head getting out of the plane, and you blacked out for a minute. Swallowed a little water, too."

And damned near gave him a heart attack in the process.

Brian had surfaced and found nothing but the murky water and a sinking plane. No Shelly. And he'd been more frightened then than he had been when he realized the engine had stopped and wasn't going to start again.

He dove back under the water, found her limp and lifeless in the plane. Somehow he'd gotten her out, gotten her to cough up some water, and then he'd held her for what seemed like forever until she opened those pretty brown eyes of hers. His heart had settled down a little, but he still held her tight.

"God, Shelly!"

He held her tight enough that he could feel each breath she took as they sat there, wet and cold, and watched the plane sink below the surface.

He could hear sirens in the distance now, and he wondered how long it would be before anyone found them, wondered if he'd have to leave her here while he walked back down the road in search of some help. He didn't think he could leave her, didn't think he could make himself let her go.

She'd been a part of his life forever, and he believed she always would be. She was one of the best friends he'd ever had, and he couldn't imagine being without her.

Brian looked at the bump on her head again and tried not to close his eyes, because when he did he kept seeing her floating lifelessly under the water, kept scaring himself all over again. So he just held on to her until the fire trucks and the ambulance came, and he had to finally let her go.

Chapter 4

Shelley woke up a little stiff and sore, a little dizzy, but otherwise whole, in a hotel bed the next morning.

It took her a while to remember why.

The day before had a dreamlike quality to it. Nightmarish, actually. She remembered the little plane, the noise of the engine and then the silence, all those trees and that black water, the panic, the pain and a strong pair of arms wrapped around her, holding her close, and finally the sirens.

They'd almost died.

She still had trouble believing it.

If Brian hadn't been able to find her—if he hadn't been able to pull her out of the water... She shuddered, remembering the way the water had closed in around her, blinding her, pinning her down under its surface, robbing her lungs of air and leaving her head spinning as she fought to get away.

She couldn't have escaped from the downed plane on her own. She'd gotten tangled up in the seats and the seat belts and she didn't even know what else. She'd just kept bumping into things as she'd tried to find the door. The harder she'd tried to get out, the more frantic she'd become, and the more useless her efforts had become.

She'd been certain she would die in those awful moments alone in the dark plane, with the water rising.

And then she'd come to and found herself on the riverbank, in Brian's arms. It had been so bittersweet—the way he'd held her. Had she imagined it, or had he been reluctant to let her go? Of course there was a reason, she realized, wincing at the memory of their conversation in this very bed, sometime deep in the night...

* * *

She was back under the water again, trapped there in the blackness, and she didn't know how to get out. It was cold and dark and heavy. She was running out of time, and the water was pressing against her, holding her down, almost paralyzing her.

"Brian!" she screamed, nearly jumping off the hotel bed. She would have jumped if he hadn't caught her in his arms.

"Hey," he crooned to her as he caught her hard against him. "It's all right. It's over. You're safe now."

"Ahh," she gasped, clinging to him with every bit of her strength. Her breath came in big gulps, and the pain reverberated through her head with every beat of her heart.

"It's all right," Brain said again, settling himself on the bed so he could lean against the headboard. He pulled her back against him.

"I thought I was back in the water again," she said. It seemed remembering was just as scary as living through the real thing.

"I know," Brian said, tightening his arms around her even more. "But you're out. You're safe now."

She was. It was hard to believe, but she was safe and in a hotel suite in Tallahassee with him right beside her. But even now, knowing where she was, it was still hard to push away the terror of being trapped in that plane and unable to find the way out.

"It's all right, Shel," he said, the tenor of his voice dipping deeper and rougher than she'd ever heard it.

She started to tremble again, as badly as she had once he'd pulled her out of the water. She wasn't sure how she ever stopped the first time or how she would again. And it was so wonderful to have him hold her. She didn't want him to ever let go.

"I couldn't have gotten out by myself, Brian." She knew it was true. She'd panicked completely.

"Hush," he said. "It's over now."

She shook her head back and forth, then winced at the pain that movement brought on.

"You saved my life," she said, fighting against the urge to snuggle closer to him now that she was awake enough to know better. But the choice wasn't hers to make at that moment. His arms tightened around her, crushing her to him. She couldn't have moved if her life depended upon it.

"I didn't think I'd ever find you down there."

Shelly closed her eyes and wondered if someone, somewhere, was finally going to answer her prayers. She lay there in his arms, afraid to move, afraid to breathe, afraid to hear what was coming next.

"I would have never forgiven myself if anything had happened to you," he said huskily.

Shelly held her breath as she waited for him to continue. She'd come so close to telling him yesterday, so close to just blurting out everything she felt for him.

She felt his lips kiss her softly on the forehead, felt his arms tighten around her for a moment before he pulled away so he could see her eyes.

"I couldn't stand the idea of losing you, Shel. You're like family to me."

Shelly felt the bottom drop out of her world again, as it had when the plane fell out of the sky. But she forced a smile across her face, because she still had some pride left.

Loving this man was going to kill her someday.

She closed her eyes tight and tried to remember this feeling—hopes dashed yet again. She should remember it well, because it never stopped where the two of them were concerned.